Gravity-lock.



PATNTEE SEPT. 29,1903. G. H. sToUT. GRAVITY 1.00K.

APPLIOATI'ON FILED PEB. 7. 1903.

H0 MODEL.

WJTNESSES.- l

tio. 739,945.

,UNITED STATES 'Patented september 29, 190e. `:PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. STOT, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LUCIVUS AQTURNER, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,945, dated September`29, 1903. ,Application nea February 7, 190e. semi No. 142.410. (No monti.) i

`To @ZZ lwhom t may concern,.-

Beit known thatl, GEORGE H. STOUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Den-y ver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gravity-Locks, of which The object of my invention is to construct a lock the bolt and tumblers of which are held in position by gravity and to dispenseA with all springs or other devices liable to get outof order. f

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my improved lock, showing in full lines the bolt in its shot or locked position with the twin tumblers and twin safety-latches turned in positions to lock the bolt and showing' in dotted lines the same parts in their retracted or unlocked positions. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line ai y of Fig. 1, showing theposition of the parts when the key has been inserted and passed all baffies and is ready to be turned to retract both the twin tumblers. Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view showing the position of the parts when the key has been turned to unlock the tumblers and is ready to be withdrawn.y 'Fig. 4 is a partial sectional View on the line y of Fig.1, showing theA key as having been pushed through the slots in the scutcheon side plate and baffle-plate and striking against and stopped bythe central partition. Fig. 5 is a partial sectional Vview on the line .e w of Fig. 1, showing the key as having been pushed past the central partition and'having entered the wide slot in the opposite battle-plate. Fig 6' shows the centraly partition. Fig. 7 shows one of the two videntical bafie-plates'. Fig. 8 is a View of that portion of the sideA plate surrounding the key-entrance.

The lock-case l is preferably stamped from sheet metal and has one or both side plates 2 removable. The face-plate 3 has a bolt-hole 4 near its top. The bolt 5 is formed of a heavy plate or casting and is pivoted at its rearlowerxendv to the side plates, so that its upper end, which is diagonal to its pivot, will be projected by gravity through the bolthole in the face-plate 3 and into the keeper (shown in dotted lines) on thedoor-jamb. A stud or stop 7, projecting fromone of the side plates, passes through a slot 8 in the bolt-plate and limits the backward and forward thrust of the bolt, so as to prevent it from injuring the'more delicate parts of the lock. The bolt is retracted by the usual square shanked door-knob, whichl passes through the square hole 9 and may serve as the -pivot of the bolt. In the upper rear corner of the lock are twin tumblers 10 and 11, kwhich turn upon a barrel-pivot 12, having bearings 13, Fig. 5, in the side plates. These tumblers are shaped -so that when the bolt is shot they may he turned so that their point 14 will enter a notch 15 in the rear edge of the bolt. This notch is preferably placed at a point slightly .below the circumference of a circle centered at the pivot of the bolt'and passing through the center of the tumbler bearing or pivot, so that -a quick`turning and twisting of the door-knob could not'jar the tumblers up and back, as might happen if the notch were placed above the-line of such a circle. Between' these tumblers 10 and 11 is a central partition 16, Fig. 6, having a circular opening-.17 for the tumbler-barrel 12. Slots 18 and l19 branch off from said circular opening Y for a purpose presently explained. One or 85 more bafIie-plates 20, having the circular opening 21, with branch slots 22 and 23, ai'e arranged in a similar manner, preferably between the partition and tumblers. These baffieplates are of the same shape yas the upper. part of the central partition, butare shorter, so as not to interfere withthe movements of the twin safety-latches located below and presently described. Below the twin tumblers 10 and 11 and at the rear of the bolt are the twin safety-latches 24 and 25, located on either side of the central partition and each turning on a squared spindle 26 and having any suitable bearing in the side plates and central partition. The spindles extend Ico to the outside of the door and have knobs 27 on their outer ends. These twin safety-latchesA are separated from each other by the central partition, which at this point has no opening, so that they are perfectly independent in their movement. These twin safety-latches when turned to the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1 fall into a notch 28 in the rear edge of the gravity-bolt 5, which notch is preferably located ou or below the circumference of a circle centered at the pivot of the bolt and which circle passes through the pivot of the safety-latch for the same reason hereinbefore explained with reference to the notch 15 and tumblers 10 and 1l. Their unlatched position is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The door being locked and all of the parts being in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1 and it being desired to unlock the same, a key 29, having a web 30, notched so as to leave two tangs for projecting ends 3l 32, is pushed into the eyed slot 33 in the tumblerbearing barrel 12 and through a slot 34, Fig. 8, in the side plate and into a slot 35 in the tumbler 10 and also into the corner 36 of the wide slot 22 in the baile-plate 20, 7. At this position it strikes the central partition and must be turned until its tang 3l reaches the corner 37 of the wide slot 22 It is then pushed into and through the slot 18 in the central partition and into the wide slot 22 in the bathe-plate on the opposite side of the central partition; but at this position the other tang 32 on the key-web will strike the side plate and the key must be turned back, its tang 31 passing from corner 37 to corner 36 of the wide slot 22 of the opposite bathe-plate until the tang 32 can enter the slot 34, Fig. 8. The key is then pushed home, its web-tang 31 entering the slot 35 in the opposite tumbler 11 and its web-tang 32 entering the slot 35 in the rear tumbler 10. The key is now turned around, so as to lift both tumblers 10 and l1 out of the notch 15 in the rear edge of the bolt, and rests against the back of the lock-casing, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the key may then be withdrawn, slots 23, Fig. 7, in the two baie-plates, slot 19, Fig. 6, in the central partition, and slot 38, Fig. 8, in the lock-casing being provided for this purpose. When the parts are in the unlocked position, slots 23, 19, and 38, just described, all coincide, and the key is pushed clear home and then turned so as to place the tumblers in the position shown in fnll lines in Fig. 1. To now withdraw the key after locking, the movements of the key to avoid the bathe-plates and central partition are just the reverse of the movements described in unlocking.

When my new lock is used as a communieating lock-that is, on doors communicating two roomsits many advantages are practically and most clearly seen. Should the lock be used on the communicating door between two adjacent rooms ofa public house, a former tenant, who had rented the said rooms en suite, might have a key to fit the lock and when afterward occupying only one of said rooms could use said key to unlock the communicating door; but, as has been described, my new lock comprises not only tumblers accessible to a key from opposite sides, but also a pair of twin safety-latch tumblers 24 25, which are entirely separated from each other by a central partition in the lock that completely isolates one side of the lock from the other and a tenant of one room can secure the bolt against even a key made to operate the twin tumblers.

I am aware that mortise and otherl locks have been made with partitions or diaphragms separating one side of the lock from the other and in which the tumblers accessible from one side of the partition are connected to the tumblers on the other side, so that the separated tumblers act in unison, and also of locks in which the opposite tumblers are independent but capable of being unlocked only from the locked side; but I am not aware that locks have been made as I herein describe and hereinafter claim and in which a pair of supplemental tumblers which are entirely separated by said partition and are each accessible to only one side of the lock and coact separately with the tumblers accessible from both sides of the lock to more securely lock the bolt. Obviously the lock may be provided with several baileplates in addition to and diierently disposed than those described and wards and ward-notches provided to vary the construction of the lock and the key required to open it. 4

I claim- 1. The combination, in a gravity-lock, of two independently-movable tumblers both accessible to a key from opposite sides of the lock, and two independently-movable latches each accessible from only one side of the lock, and a central partition separating said tumblers and said latches and perforated to give access to a key from either side of the lock at the place of its division of said tumblers and imperforate at the place of its division of said latches substantially as described.

2. The combination in a lock with a bottomly-pivoted swinging gravitating bolt, and twin tumblers independently movablel and twin latches independently movable, of a central partition located back of the rising swing of said bolt and separating both the tumblers and the latches, substantially as described.

3. In a lock, the combination with a bottomly-pivoted gravitating bolt, two independently-movable tumblers both accessible to a key from opposite sides of the lock and two independently-movable latch-tumblers each accessible from only one side of the lock, a central partition notched or perforated to IOO IIO

give access to a key from either side of the cess to a key from either side of the lock, sublock at the place of its division of said tun1 stantially as described. 1o blers and imperforate at the place of its di.- In testimony whereof I affix my signature vision of said latch-tumblers and bafe-plates in presenceof two Witnesses. located above the swing of the said latches GEORGE H. STOUT. upon either side of said partition and perfo- IWitnesses:

rated by notches non-coinciding with the A. ROLAND JOHNSON,

notches in said central partition to give ac- L. E. PARKER. 

